While the TODAY show celebrates a 10-year anniversary with co-host Lisa Wilkinson, a friendly face appeared on the show this morning to feed the hungry crowds gathered at Campbelltown to see the show's broadcast.

Check out the clip above to see celebrity chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan — a long-time friend of the show — drop in to showcase dishes from his latest book, Sharing Plates. The table was spread with everything from smoked salmon crumpets with freshly grated horseradish to vibrant cauliflower with saffron mayonnaise and roast chicken with romesco sauce, to demonstrate Mangan's favourite serving style. But really, the sumptuous spread was just a ruse to get another surprise happening.

"I think food is all about putting it in the middle of the table, and everyone just digs in," enthuses the chef just before he instructs co-host Karl Stefanovic to taste some of the treats.

But it was the violet crumble style chocolate coated honeycomb pieces that caught Wilkinson's attention.
"Is that hard to make?" she asks, before suggesting that she'd like some crushed up and served over ice cream. Mangan's answer to that question is no, it's not hard to make — and we can find the recipe on page 72 of the book — but it was the sweet surprise that came next that really took the cake for the morning.

While Wilkinson waxed lyrical about the violet crumble, Mangan swooped in with the special surprise of a tower of tiny cupcakes topped with butter cream and images of Wilkinson to celebrate her 10-year TODAY anniversary. See her gorgeous reaction to what is literally a tower of little Lisa cakes in the video above.

At 9Kitchen we can't help thinking that that's a pretty touching gift from such a well-respected chef, and it seems Wilkinson agrees, gushing "I gotta Instagram that baby", before the treats are shared with the crowd.